Farrell encouraged by Mujica

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Red Sox have already seen enough from right-hander Edward Mujica to think he will pitch like he did for the first two-thirds of last season, instead of the fatigued hurler who lost his closing job with the Cardinals.

"It wasn't injury related. It was more fatigue," said manager John Farrell. "Looking back at his usage, there were a number of times he went four days in a row, a couple other times he went three days in a row, and, I think, just physically, he hit a little bit of a wall. The power to the stuff declined through the course of the year."

And now?

"We're seeing the exact opposite now," said Farrell. "Each of the last three times out, the velocity ticks up. He's bounced back fine. There's no evidence of what he went through last year. He put in a good offseason."